zedster:In order to make public transit work in this city you will need better density, in short raise the FARKING HEIGHT LIMIT

How about no? The height limit is fantastic, and density isn't necessary at the moment. The city already is approaching a glut of apartments, but needs to expand into affordable housing, not increasing density of high-value luxury apartments.

I pay 15 dollars a day not covered by my work to take the bus from my house to vienna and the metro into DC. I have drivin into work only twice in my 1 and 1/2 years working here and both times were complete nightmares. I commute almost and hour and a half each way but I save 0 time driving with stop/go traffic the whole way. At least I can sleep/read/music/3DS on the train.

You know how I know that Subby has never been to DC? This plan is far from stupid. It is actually quire brilliant and refreshing to see a city actually invest in improving public transportation. Those who don't live in a commuter metropolitan area with inadequate public transportation alternatives cannot understand the daily nightmare.

You're supposed to build ever widening highways to an ever expanding web of roads to distant suburbs that are too low density to be effectively serviced by mass transsit, so when the roads get clogged you build more roads, and then widen them, and then build more until finally you've got too many choke points to accommodate any further growth and end up with a city characterized by long, miserable and expensive driving commutes that is completely unsuitable for adapting to mass transit.

devildog123:Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Driving in DC is a horrible experience anyway. Even on its worst, Metro-derailed day, I'd rather take the public transit.

This. DC is worse than almost any other American city I've ever driven in. I refuse to do it anymore. MARC from Odenton to Union Station will get you anywhere you want in the city.

As a former frequent visitor to DC, I concur. I once attempted to drive a rental car north out of DC to visit a variety of Civil War sites and that single experience of Capital Gridlock made me murderous. I won't do it again.

The DC metro is quite nice, and an awful lot of DC is walkable. A friend of mine lives near the Georgia Ave/ Petworth Station, and we've walked from there to the Mall before. It's a long go, but hardly worth complaining about, given the automotive alternative.

But you have to remember, whenever you get a large number of people walking , or on bikes, you're going to invariably get a number who don't feel compelled to "share the road", path, or whatever. Blithely hurtling along, possibly with headphones in, oblivious to those around them. I used to ride on a walkway 10' wide, clealy stating bikers have the right of way, but you come along, some mature retiree with a yapper bounding about, compels me to s;low down to avoid hitting the mongrels. Finally started riding on the road shoulder to avoid the little turd factories. I'll share the road, but grudgingly so with those who do not provide the same consideration.I don't always ride like Chuck Yeager, just trying to get from point A to B with as little BS as possible. Aloso, by trying not to be an ass about it. Also,need more bike racks in the commuter train cars, and a valid method of securing bikes to public buses where others don't try to steal your bike off the front of a bus.

You're supposed to build ever widening highways to an ever expanding web of roads to distant suburbs that are too low density to be effectively serviced by mass transsit, so when the roads get clogged you build more roads, and then widen them, and then build more until finally you've got too many choke points to accommodate any further growth and end up with a city characterized by long, miserable and expensive driving commutes that is completely unsuitable for adapting to mass transit.

It's the American way.

You live in Atlanta don't you? You've described the thinking and the result here perfectly.

Pretty sure the sewage truck isn't in the bike lane and you can stop in a dc bike lane to let passengers out but the linked site the guy is complaining about it.

Pretty sure it is in the bike lane. See the thin space to the right of it? That's the divider between the bike lanes and the road. And for the other person who commented I don't know where deliver and service vehicles are supposed to go. I just know they are parked in the bike lanes. And people definitely shouldn't be driving in them or parking in them....or do you have excuses for them too?

Caption for this one below said "Driver got out w/ stool & tried to attack me twice after I took pic & asked him to move"

The article makes a good point about making our existing public transit more reliable. I can't tell you how many times a bus just hasn't shown up when its supposed to or leaves 10 minutes earlier than it should. Not to mention how shiatty the drivers are.

I hope the current track work makes the trains more reliable as well. Its slowing things down with popular routes being single tracked at rush hour. This is supposed to go on for years.

Rincewind53:zedster: In order to make public transit work in this city you will need better density, in short raise the FARKING HEIGHT LIMIT

How about no? The height limit is fantastic, and density isn't necessary at the moment. The city already is approaching a glut of apartments, but needs to expand into affordable housing, not increasing density of high-value luxury apartments.

And there is more than enough office space to go around.

If you increase supply, the overall price will decrease. This is Econ 101 stuff. If you think the developers will stiff their customers by leaving prices high then they'll have more apartments sitting empty. Or you force the issue by doing what DeBlasio is proposing here in New York, and require that developers set aside a minimum percentage of new residential developments for low-income housing.

If you want to leave the height limit in place, I did notice that the streets in DC are relatively broad - maybe if you made some of them narrower you can increase the land available to build on, but you'd have to put up with narrower streets / sidewalks and maybe less park space. And that would probably bring in more population who would require more support from public transport. Or you could build kitchen-sized apartments like some of the ones you find in New York. But land is a limited resource, something's gotta give.

i can get into and out of DC reasonably easily the rare times I am up there. Of course, I have found my routes to take and am a bit patient with the commute. It helps that it is a rental car that has Sirius/XM with someone else paying for gas and parking and the hotel I am going to.

I am in agreement though - if there is a viable public transportation option, then cars SHOULD be taxed inversely to the amount of actual beef found in a Taco Bell burrito.

The special hell is driving around it. Mainly because few useful roads actually go through DC.

Here's an idea.

Dig two perpendicular tunnels across DC: Route 50 going east/west, I-95 going north/south (or extend 395 through the city to meet up with 95/495 in Beltsville). Each gets one exit/on ramp into/out of the city.

Do we think that might solve some of the problem? (Not entirely.) I mean, it'd shift some of the pain to those single points, but it'd eliminate the stupid drive around the city for many, and alleviate at least some of the pain getting from anywhere outside into the beating heart of the nation's capital.

Dr Dreidel:This text is now purple: Codenamechaz: Trail of Dead: Stupid? Why is this stupid?

Clearly subby has never attempted to drive through DC before.

The special hell is driving around it. Mainly because few useful roads actually go through DC.

Here's an idea.

Dig two perpendicular tunnels across DC: Route 50 going east/west, I-95 going north/south (or extend 395 through the city to meet up with 95/495 in Beltsville). Each gets one exit/on ramp into/out of the city.

Do we think that might solve some of the problem? (Not entirely.) I mean, it'd shift some of the pain to those single points, but it'd eliminate the stupid drive around the city for many, and alleviate at least some of the pain getting from anywhere outside into the beating heart of the nation's capital.

One of the problems with tunnels at this point is NIMBY. Too much of DC has gotten too wealthy to allow government to dig tunnels underneath their homes and add the attendant above ground infrastructure to vent the exhaust. Many cities are too gentrified to make new expressways a viable option. This isn't like the 60s when you could just plow down tenements so suburbanites could get to the urban core faster.